Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to eradicate period poverty in schools.

On 20 January 2020, the department launched a new scheme which makes free period products available in state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England.

This is an important step to ensure that menstruation does not present a barrier to learning and that no one is held back from reaching their potential.

We are continuing to monitor schools’ engagement with the scheme during the COVID-19 outbreak. All schools and colleges continue to be able to order period products and to distribute them to learners according to their own local arrangements.